Andrea

Hi. Well we saw the oncologist today. Nothing new. My mom will be re-scanned mid June, 30 days after radiation ends. Then she will hopefully be placed on a clinical trial which is an injection once a month for two years. Oncologist said right now we are NED, but ED loves to visit during the first two years , so this is the tense wait and see part. There will be lots of ups and downs like the unexplained dizziness last week and I have to learn to deal with it, it's life as they say! With that said, my inlaws, my parents, my husband and my secretary joined forces and demanded that I be taken away. Why I asked, do I seem stressed? I engaged in negotations and agreed only if I was allowed to call my mom twice a day. The deal was sealed. So while my parents personally think a straight jacket would be the best way to take me away b/c of mental state right now, alas I will be taken away in just blue jeans and will return Sunday It will just be me, Brian and myinlaws. We are going to Sam Simeon (Hearst Castle) and maybe Santa Barbara or Solvang. A few places in that area, I forgot what they finally decided on I am new to CA and have not seen those areas yet Hopefully it will do me good to be away from the internet. I had a moment today I reflect back now that I must have sounded like a freak. I was interviewing a potential paralegal for my team. She asked me to describe the atmosphere. I said "Well my mom has lung cancer, so I get depressed. We all work together as a team and love each other. I get a daily kiss on the head and hug from Darlene (my secretar). And we like to play and joke and laugh. Sure, things get stressful here, but when all is said and done, while I was anxiously awaiting for the surgeon to reappear at my mom's surgery, it was Darlene and the former paralegal who I called and cried to, and you can't beat that." She didn't say too much. To me it all sounded rational, that is the environment. But then when I rehashed what I said I realized that I just told a stranger that I get kisses on the head and daily hugs. I probably should have just saved that part for them to see b/c it really does sound bizarre

Thanks for the offer Nat, but I did not ask you, hence you cannot offer and it will not be accepted back. There is no acceptance on my part which is needed. My mommy said so too. You need an offer, consideration, and an acceptance, that is Contracts 101. So henceforth, I am doing well fundraising here, please donate either for your team or an even better idea, which is selfish, take what you would send to me and get yourself a manicure/pedicure. I just read in SELF magazine that doing so can lengthen your life. NO KIDDING! You need to pamper yourself my friend. You are too good. And many many many thanks to you for inspiring me to do the Relay for Life

I e-mailed my Relay for Life flyer around the office seeking donations. You'd think attorneys could spare a bit for charity. I only sent it yest though, so we'll see. The firm is sponsoring the registration fee. Anyway, I just just touched and realized that there are good kind people in this world. A secretary who I am not very close with (meaning I like her, she always asks about my mom, but I don't work with her so I don't interact with her enough to have invited her to my wedding) gave me a $50 donation!!!!!!!!!! I told her it was too generous. She has two teenage kids. I know she makes bubcus. But no, she wanted to. She said she really appreciated what we are doing in the fight for cancer and it was just something she wanted to do. It brought tears to my eyes. What a special lady!

Perhaps this can shed some insight into my warped humor. My adorable mom started radiation on Monday. The drs say she is tricky b/c no matter how crappy she feels, she puts on makeup and lipstick to go in, so they always have to ask her Well my dad and I convinced her that she will glow in the dark from radiation At first she did not believe it, but I convinced her Then my dad said he would have to sleep in other room because she would be glowing so much heehehehe. So last night he snuck a flashlight into bed and shined it on her so she would think she was glowing. She finally realized it was all a con So gullible

Laurie, Congrats on the good check up!!! So that is why you have seemed MIA as of late You were away

I was just searching for a LC ribbon to get to Dean (then I realized I better wait till my lunch hour or I won't get my work done I'd rather get my work over with so I can play later ) I know that LC is an invisible ribbon. However I saw one website describe the color as pearl. I like that. Everyone here is a pearl in my life and special, so it was kind of a neat way to describe the color

I LOVE IT! I am CWD. Perfect! Thank you :):) I had another slight neurotic moment yesterday because I am CWD. I had a tetanus shot on Fri at my physical, arm still hurts, is red. Well the armpit of that arm HURTS and I felt and MAJORLLY swollen lymph node and really tender. I said oh no, I have cancer, but I did not understand b/c Fri at the exam it was fine. Brian said uh honey, it is from the tetanus shot, ssme arm and it hurts. The injfected a virus into your arm. Now I do remember from my research that cancer is a painless swelling normally and my whole arm on that side hurts, especially at injfection site. But that was not good enough for me. One of my best friends is a doctor (he is the Beverly Hills botox man) and he was on line. I messaged him and yup, duh, stupuid tetanus shot The good news is that my therapy. LCSC, is really helping because my episode of neurosis only lasted 5 minutes and I did not even research! I was so proud and made sure to point that out to my husband Some may say that if I am curable, a cancer cure cannot be far behind

Dean, you are awesome I will find a picture of a ribbon later today.

Peoples, I already got the approval from Katie to do this. I was wondering if anyone here is good at computer graphics? If not, I will try to hire someone or find a co-worker maybe. I want to do tote bags for the Relay for Life and for awareness just so I can strut around. My mom won't let me hang a sign from myself about lung cancer, so this is the next best thing http://www.myshopangel.com/totes.htm is where I am thinking of getting the totes. What I need is a graphic design to send them to be imprinted. The bag will be baclk and the imprint white. It will say as follows, pretty simple and to the point: Lung Cancer may be only just a breath away...... even if you never smoked INSERT RIBBON www.lchelp.com

Connie, They give my parents copies of everything and my dad faxes it to me so I can have people at my office look at it. This stuff though was too technical for them. But intially, I knew my mom had lung cancer from the CT before she did 80% of my firm does med mal. I don't touch it, it would make me way too crazy. But it has come in handy, through my office I bypassed research and found the top treators

GOOD LUCK ON THE SURGERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see you back on line and hear good news

I am not sure if it is stress or what it is, I just am confused by what was even tested for or why. Like does this make a difference? I mean I would not expect a lung cancer tumor test to say "hey, great tumor, you will be ok" I just don't understand teh science behind it. I guess I will find out Wed at the oncologist. But I want to know now I am impatient

Did anyone ever get tested for Lung Carcinoma Prognostic and Predictive Markers? The sent my mom's tumor in and I have the report and I don't like it. It tests for H&E, HER-2/neu, P53, EGFR, Anglogenesis(CD31) and a bunch of other stuff. All of the positve numbers come along with a note that those tumors are associated with "a shorter disease free survival rate and overall survival rate".

Hi. My mom's platelets dropped during treatment too and she felt crappy. She just had to wait it out and the numbers went back in like a week

Mo, Prostate cancer--that reminds me of a REALLY funny story. Imagine this, Brian was in ER with his stomach attack the day my mom got released from Cedars. I am a mess, worried about the world. Brian NEVER got sick since I knew him and the high fever, stomach pain, etc. So they do the CT. 10 minutes later 3 doctors are standing o utside his little area and they are all consulting on a film. We think it HAS to be his and we are strainging our ears..........I suddenly hear the word "uterus" and I said "uterus, Brian, that is not your film" and I was loud enough for everyone to hear me and just stare at me :):)

Two things. 1. We saw an interesting commercial last night. It was from the tobacco companies. It had a circle that was just orange, it was not a "no smoking sign". The commercial was about secnd hand smoke and there was a woman who said "I never smoked, I did not choose lung cancer". But of course she mentioned she used to work for people who did smoke and it was all about second hand smoke effecting nonsmokers. It led me to ponder, what is second hand smoke. How much does it take? Is it constant smoke or is it even just walking down the street and breathing in a cigarette. 2. I am really embarassed for freaking out of the breast surgeon thing. I called my doctor and said the surgeon you are referring me to is not on my plan until May. They called me back and said it is fine to wait until May or June, just don't forget. Apparently it really is just a precaution b/c with dense breasts there can be hidden lumps that are not felt and perhaps I should get a mamogram earlier than 35. There was no urgency that he felt something suspicious, he just could not tell if something was hidden. I am sorry I freaked out, this darn disease does it to me. I feel foolish But at least my mental state is getting better b/c the old me might have insisted on seeing a HMO surgeon right away. The new me realizes this is all just part of "getting old" and when you hit the 30s, you should be checked and I know logically I am at the same risk for breast cancer as anyone. So I am calm (for the moment) And no, I had no xanax today!

Gosh Fay, that is a tough choice. Did the radiation oncologist give his recommendation? I have no idea what they are doing on my mom--whether it is a spot or the whole banana, I never thought to ask, she starts tomorrow. I know they are doing the lymph node areas that showed up on the PET at diagnosis. They got the lymphs and tumor out during surgery, but those stupid microscopic cells. The radiation oncologist told us that the risks are damage to the other lung, but in her case not bad since it is not as close; heart, all of that stuff, and radiation can cause another cancer in 10 years, but he said we have no choice or this cancer will almost definately come back It is the only potential remedy right now. They are tatooing the area they radiated so if there is a recurrance, they know what area they touched. I know this is no help to you, I am just sharing what I just learned. Personally, if they recommended the whole banana to me, I would just go for it. Kill the deamons off! Ask the radiation oncologist what he would recommend for his (or her) wife, husband, mother, etc. Keep us posted

Steph, Best wishes for an easy move!! I can't wait to hear all about it. I am constantly praying for you and your family Love, Andrea

THanks Becky, I don't particulary feel the need for a one now, but I find it interesting, like when and should chest ct scans become the "norm" as mamograms are. Things that make me go hmmm

Hi. Th anks I have a call in to my dr to see if it is something urgent that I have to do this month or next month when I get on the PPO. He did mention an ultrasound with dense breaths. Anytimeyou want to talk fundraising, I am up for it mye-mail is andreascheff@cox.net and i use AOL IM, my user name is AnnJDMBA

Insurance companies are amazing, there always seem to be a hassle, especially when you are sick. Bahumbug! Please post more often, as you have read we all love to vent together, cry together, laugh together, celebrate together, and grieve together. The love here is amazing

My understanding, and I am sure others can correct me if I am wrong, is that by the time the beast shows up on Chest Xrays it is advanced and usually at least Stage III. Early stages rarely show up on chest xrays and that is why scans are better.

I have been wanting to post here.... My husband had a colonoscopy on Monday. He is only 27, but had some symptoms which led to an "abnormal colon" on ct scan. His mom has Chron's disease and is a colo-rectal cancer survivor 27+ years ago! Hence they wanted to check him due to the history and symptoms. I got the call today, his biopsy is NEGATIVE for cancer and NEGATIVE for inflamatory disease. Yay!

WOO HOO!

I had so much fun reading these slogans. I want to hear more ideas, it helps me with my comedy routines when I try to make lung cancer jokes to shock people. Well not jokes per se, you know what I mean. I find a way to turn everything into cancer, it was really fun to do to the timeshare salesguy I want to make totes for the Relay for Life and I wanted to do something classy, simple, yet add shock value as Debi said. So I came up with: Lung cancer may be only just a breath away.... even if you never smoked INSERT RIBBON www.lchelp.com This way it catches the eye of former smokers and non smokers, but is not "offensive". I had other suggestions at work like "Together we can beat this". However, I didn't like it. It was too optomistic and not true. If we could beat this together, this disease would not be one of the leading cancer killers It is only with awareness and funds that we can beat this. Duh!